Street Spirit newspaper stays alive to print stories and poems by those who have been unhoused

The East Bay newspaper Street Spirit did something this year that few, if any, papers have been able to accomplish  — it staged a comeback after going out of print. 

For eight months, Street Spirit — which featured articles by and about those who have experienced homelessness and the economic policies that perpetuate poverty — did not print issues, while its director, Alastair Boone, and its editor, Bradley Penner, tirelessly fundraised to get the paper up and running again. 

“All of a sudden, we had raised over $250,000 just from individuals, no brands, no foundations,” Boone said recently. “It was such an amazing vote of confidence from our community that you want this paper to keep existing.”

Since returning to print in March, the size of the operation has grown. Street Spirit now prints 6,000 rather than 4,000 issues each month and has 50 regular vendors selling the paper, about double the previous number.

Street Spirit vendors keep 100% of the profits they make from selling the paper. That money is a vital lifeline to cover food, medicine, transit and rent costs. Derek Hayes, who has been selling the paper for two decades in Oakland and is no longer unhoused, said the earnings will help him pay for transportation to see his family in Houston for Thanksgiving.

“We need this, y’all,” Hayes told about 50 people at a fundraiser for Street Spirit earlier this month. “It’s life changing.”

The fundraiser, in a sunlit gallery in South Berkeley, was part of an effort to raise $150,000 for Street Spirit’s 2025 operating budget, which includes printing, freelancer pay, office rent, Clipper cards for vendors, and employee salaries. 

“We’re not in the emergency place we were in last year,” Boone said, “but we’re not out of the woods.”

Street Spirit takes submissions of poetry, profiles, art, but also original reporting on issues around homelessness, paying its contributors $50 for their pieces. What makes the paper’s ethos unique is that it is intended to be by and for the unhoused. 

“I appreciate Street Spirit so much because they’re helping to change the narrative that’s out there against the unhoused, against the poor, the most vulnerable,” said John Janosko, a former member of the Wood Street encampment in West Oakland. 

The fundraising event included a panel discussion on the state of homelessness and local news, moderated by KQED editor and reporter Nastia Voynovskaya.

Osha Neumann, a lawyer and activist, explained to fellow panelists how excited an unhoused acquaintance was when his poem was published by Street Spirit. 

“He’s an incredible poet, and that identity is very important to him,” Neumann said. “Being published by Street Spirit is like being on the bestseller list.” 

After the panel, music courtesy of DJ Merrill Garbus of the Tune-Yards, filled the space. Guests bought Street Spirit sweaters ($50 each) and signed up for silent auction prizes such as earrings, books, a $500 gift card for Oakland Guitars, an original quilt artwork made with pieces of Street Spirit, and tickets to the Oakland Ballers 2025 season.

Volunteers sold cocktails and beer, donated by Two Pitchers Brewing Company, with funds going directly to Street Spirit. Outside, a line formed in the dusk for potstickers and fried rice catered by General Li — a popup food stand run by Chef Sharon Li — with 10% of the profits going to the paper. 

Behind Li’s popup, the San Francisco Poster Syndicate screen-printed dozens of copies of three distinct Street Spirit pieces, free for all to take home. 

Events like these will now become a regular part of keeping Street Spirit afloat, which Boone and Penner are committed to doing. In an Instagram post  Thursday, Street Spirit announced it had raised $42,000 from the event. Street Spirit is still taking donations, and through the end of the year, each dollar donated will be matched by NewsMatch, a grassroots news funding organization. 

“I think that art and storytelling are very helpful in building solidarity,” Boone said. “The opportunity to understand the crisis of homelessness through individuals who you get to know and come to love and come to understand really makes what seems like a monolithic issue into a very personal issue.”

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